Romney mentioned more than Obama

10/12/12 2:05 AM EDT

According to a complete transcript of the Joe Biden-Paul Ryan debate, the two candidates mentioned the name "Romney" 23 more times than they mentioned "Obama."

That's an inexact metric for gauging the focus of the event, since it doesn't cover references to Barack Obama as "the president," or allusions to either candidate as "he" or — in some cases — "the guy."

But Romney's surname came up 53 times, versus 30 times for Obama, with the bulk of the references in each case coming from the opposing party's running mate. It was Biden hammering away at Gov. Romney for his views on foreign policy and Ryan hitting Obama for his management of the economy.

It's not as though you needed that measurement to know that Biden was the more aggressive debater, but it's one more small illustration of why tonight's debate was different from last week's debate in Denver in terms of focus and emphasis and energy.